| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| An Envoy to an American Lady |
| | | Richard Monckton Milnes Houghton, 1st Baron (1809–85) |
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| BEYOND the vague Atlantic deep, | |
| Far as the farthest prairies sweep, | |
| Where forest-glooms the nerve appal, | |
| Where burns the radiant Western fall, | |
| One duty lies on old and young,— | 5 |
| With filial piety to guard, | |
| As on its greenest native sward, | |
| The glory of the English tongue. | |
| That ample speech! That subtle speech! | |
| Apt for the need of all and each: | 10 |
| Strong to endure, yet prompt to bend | |
| Wherever human feelings tend. | |
| Preserve its force—expand its powers; | |
| And through the maze of civic life, | |
| In Letters, Commerce, even in Strife, | 15 |
| Forget not it is yours and ours. | |
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